The present invention relates generally to a method and system for computer aided design (CAD) of integrated circuits and in particular to finding a flexible way for routing a net.
In electronic circuits, electrical conductors are typically layers of conductive material such as copper or aluminum that are separated by layers of insulating material such as silicon dioxide. The metal layers are patterned using photolithographic techniques to form the conductors for interconnecting electrical elements in an integrated circuit (IC). The design or layout of a complex IC may, in part, be automated such that the location of interconnection wires is determined with the aid of a computer running CAD routing software. The computer is accordingly called a router. In the context of discussions related to the operation of the computer, electronic representations of information corresponding with physical elements are frequently referred to using terms which more generally identify the corresponding physical elements. For example, in the context of discussions related to the operation of the computer, a wire is often an electronic representation of information corresponding to an electrical conductor of an electronic device or a circuit. For example, a wire may be an electronic representation of information representing an electrical conductor within an electronic representation of a circuit design. Based on the electronic representation of the circuit design, a physical circuit may be generated.